Gut Feelings: Stubborn
by crazytomboy78
Summary: Skipper's gut has always told him what to believe in; as well as always being right. But when it comes to his furry female friend, for once in his life, he didn't know what to think. Oneshot, Skilene. Inspired by the episode 'Gut Instinct'.


Skipper was lying awake in bed, thinking excessively due to the fact that he couldn't sleep. But tonight was no exception from any other night. On many occasions lately, he had laid awake at night, thinking of a certain friend of his that seemed unable to escape his mind; no matter how hard he tried. No matter what he thought of to boot her out, thoughts of her kept racing back in. Thoughts such as how he got a funny feeling inside himself whenever he started thinking about her, or when she came around.

The most aggravatingly confusing part of it was that unlike any other situation, he didn't know what to make of this one. Usually his gut told him right from wrong, but whenever it came to this particular problem, he didn't know what to choose; ignore the feelings inside of him, or pursue them and discover their true origin. His gut said one thing, but his brain deeply disagreed with it. Usually he listened to his gut more than his brain, but this time he didn't know which was right. For once in his life, he was unsure of what to do about his strange, relatively new feelings.

"Are you okay, Skipper?" Private asked. Skipper looked up to see the young soldier leaning over the edge of his bed to look down at his fearless leader.

"I'm fine, Private, just go back to sleep." Skipper responded, obviously lying. Private, shrugging, decided to leave it alone. He could tell Skipper didn't quite want to talk about it right now.

~…~

The next morning, the rookery was going through their usual morning training exercises as Skipper oversaw his soldiers at work with a yawn.

"Skipper, are you sure you're okay? You haven't gotten much sleep lately. You've been tired all week." Private asked, noticing his leader's exhaustion.

"I told you last night and I'll tell you again, Private, I'm fine." Skipper insisted.

"I don't know, Skipper, Private's got a point. You've been working a little slowly all week. Is something wrong?" Kowalski asked, joining in on the concern.

"What will it take to convince you all that nothing is wrong with me? I'm perfectly fine! Now get back to your morning exercises!" Skipper ordered. The two went back to their work with a shrug. When Skipper said enough was enough, then they knew to listen. They knew better than to bring out the irritated Skipper.

As they continued their exercises, however, they noticed Marlene emerging from her cave-like bedroom to take her usual morning dip. As she looked over to her penguin neighbors and waved to Skipper, they looked over to their leader to see a smile on his beak as he waved in return.

"Hmm…" Kowalski thought aloud, but just quiet enough so that Skipper wouldn't hear.

"What are you thinking, Kowalski?" Private asked.

"Has anyone else noticed that Skipper has been tired all week, but every time he talks to or even sees Marlene suddenly everything's all peachy?" Kowalski asked.

"Do you think he likes her?"

"Oh…I was going to say Skipper has been brainwashed somehow, but now that I think about it that's a lot more likely…" Kowalski explained, chuckling nervously.

"My question is…does _Skipper _know this? Every time I've asked if something is wrong he's gotten grumpy with me." Private asked.

"If that's the case, then that'd be a no." Kowalski said. "Say, Skipper, can we talk to you quickly?"

"What is it, Kowalski?" Skipper asked impatiently.

~…~

Kowalski finally persuaded Skipper to sit down at the table inside their secret lair.

"What is this all about?" Skipper asked, annoyed. Between having interrupted their morning routine and being a bit sleep deprived, Skipper was tired and cranky. He most certainly did _not _want to be having this frivolous meeting.

"Skipper, do you…_like _someone?" Kowalski asked, trying to be subtle.

"What are you talking about?" Skipper asked, confused.

"I'm talking about your inability to sleep lately, which is affecting our missions, which only seems to go away when a certain friend of ours comes around." Kowalski explained.

"I don't know what you mean. I'm in tip top shape. Perfectly," Skipper said, interrupting himself with a yawn. "Fine."

"…yeah. But seriously, getting to the point. We think you may be falling in love with Marlene." Kowalski said frankly.

"What? That's silly. I most certainly am not." Skipper said. Surely, his confusion quickly flooded back into his body, causing him to become even more irritated.

"Skipper, all the signs are there. I've studied signs of love, and I've come to the conclusion that you like Marlene. Science doesn't lie." Kowalski explained.

"Plus you're always really happy around her." Private chimed in.

"Well this time it does. Because that is most certainly not true. Now let's get back to work, we have a lot to do today." Skipper said, exiting the HQ to the outside to begin their next task. Private, Kowalski and Rico exchanged shrugs as they followed their confused leader. They knew he'd come around sometime.

~…~

As Skipper lay awake in his bed that night, thoughts from earlier in the day took over his mind. He didn't want to think about his feelings, it was never something he concerned himself with. He had learned through years of life experience to trust what his gut says (and by 'life experience', of course he meant learning from many, many mistakes), and not his heart. He had learned to ignore his heart completely, and to not pay too much attention to the thoughts in his head. Plus, he'd never actually weighed the value of love. His whole life so far had been about action and combat, and fighting with the forces of justice by his side. He had never stopped to smell the roses, much less pluck them off the ground and hand them to a lady that he fancied.

Basically, he didn't know anything about love. Or being _in _love…or how to _handle_ being in love. And he didn't know who to go to to talk about it. Plus, he didn't _want _to tell anyone. Telling meant putting himself at risk for mockery. And he _wouldn't _have that. It'd be too embarrassing.

"Skipper…?" A small voice came from above him. Skipper looked up to see Private hanging over the edge of his bed.

"What is it this time?" Skipper responded tiredly.

"You know…it's okay if you like Marlene. It's better to realize your feelings than to hide from them." Private said quietly. Skipper only sighed. What was he supposed to say to that?

"Just go back to sleep, soldier." Skipper responded. Private sighed and rolled back onto his bed. Skipper will be Skipper, he thought. And if he knew his commanding officer, Private knew that he was just being stubborn.

It was inevitable- he'd come around sometime.

**So this oneshot…uhh...kind of didn't come out as I pictured it…like, I've only written one story for this show before, and it was a very long time ago…so basically, no, I'm not really used to writing for this show. But I've been watching this show a lot lately and I got this idea from the episode 'Gut Instinct'…and it was just sorta baking in my mind, waiting to be written…so of course I HAD to write it…and stuff…yeahh. So I think I get a little leeway for all that…but eh, I don't think it's too terrible. Review?**

**PS- If you haven't gathered it already, then yeah, I'm a Skilene fan…I can't help it, they're just so cute! X3 (and yes, I ramble a lot *blushies*)**


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